


Safe Inside

by VulpeculaAnser



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Advanced Threat Containment Unit, Angst, Bigotry & Prejudice Against Inhumans, Domestic Fluff, Early Season/Series 3, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt Skye | Daisy Johnson, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Past Child Abuse, Minor FitzSimmons, Minor Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Minor Medical Terminology, Philindaisy feels, Season/Series 03, Set approximately after 3x08, Skye | Daisy Johnson's Superpowers, Team as Family, bus kids friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulpeculaAnser/pseuds/VulpeculaAnser
Summary: Daisy wasn’t quite sure how it had got to this point.It had started with the team being up in arms about xenophobic ATCU agents being allowed to roam the base, and a migraine triggered by overusing her powers. Then it escalated into May and Coulson pretending to be her parents in front of Price, and her nearly getting shot.
Comments: 49
Kudos: 231





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> New to writing for this fandom, not new to writing fics. I have more fics in the works (Daisy and Philindaisy-centric) but would love to hear some suggestions/prompts for others in the comments.
> 
> This is a pre-completed threeshot. Next update will likely be Saturday. Hope you enjoy!

Since they’d discovered that Malick and HYDRA were secretly funding and using the ATCU to capture and kidnap Inhumans, the team had remained on base. They hadn’t been placed on any proper missions for the last couple of days, and Daisy was beginning to feel restless, like a caged tiger. Coulson was spending most of his time in his office coordinating with Rosalind Price and a couple of her agents, trying to figure out a plan they could use to cripple Malick. As they were also trying to work out on whether there was a way they could recover the stolen Inhumans, Daisy understood why it was important for the ATCU agents to be at the Playground. She was, however, reluctant to be comfortable with the idea.

Lincoln definitely wasn’t. He had only just moved into the compound and he outright refused to leave his bunk if the ACTU were hanging around. It was fine for him to hole himself up, as he didn’t have an active role on base yet, but Daisy couldn’t do that. She had responsibilities as a senior agent which she had to fulfill, training to keep up her fitness, and research on HYDRA to complete - her one and only assignment from Coulson since Malick’s reveal. Instead, Daisy just had to keep trying to live her life, while glancing over her shoulder every couple of minutes.

None of the rest of her team and friends were comfortable with Price and the ATCU either. If Mack wasn’t by her side at all times, somebody else was ready to step up and watch her back. 

“They’re jumpy,” he argued, when Daisy questioned for the sixth time why he was standing over her shoulder as she poured coffee.

“I think you’re the jumpy one.”

Mack shook his head. “You haven’t seen the way they’ve been looking at you. Like you’re some animal they’re champing at the bit to shoot at.”

“It is rather disturbing,” Fitz agreed, from his position on the couch, where he and Jemma were curled up next to each other drinking tea while watching a muted cuttlefish documentary on TV. “And it’s worse knowing their guns have real bullets while ours only have ICER rounds while we’re on base. They’d be shooting to kill but we’d only be able to force them to nap for a couple of hours.”

“Fitz,” Jemma scolded. “None of the ATCU agents here will be shooting at Daisy. Or Lincoln. Or any Inhuman, for that matter. Coulson wouldn’t let them be here if -”

“Jemma,” Fitz cut her off gently. “Whether or not _Coulson_ believes they’d hurt Daisy and Lincoln or not, doesn’t matter here. What matters is whether Daisy and Lincoln think they will.” He turned to Daisy expectantly. “Do you?”

She looked down at the floor uneasily. “I don’t know,” she admits, her voice much smaller than she would have liked it to be. “They don’t even see us as human. They don’t think that we deserve rights. There aren’t any laws to protect us. The Inhumans they have killed already… there haven’t been any court trials. Legally speaking, they can kill us freely without prosecution.” At Jemma’s stunned, appalled expression, she informed her quietly, “You missed a lot while you were away, Jemma.”

Mack and Fitz were right. It was clear that the ATCU was still scared of Inhumans, and if they were scared of her, that meant that she had to consider them possible threats. Daisy wasn’t afraid, but she was wary. They’d aimed guns at her and Lincoln before. They’d shot at them. What would stop them from doing it again? Coulson seemed to trust Price, and as Price trusted her men that meant he trusted them too. But Daisy just… couldn’t. Coulson seemed to realize this, thankfully, because he wasn’t pushing her into talking to Price like he had before, back on the Zephyr.

As a result of the team’s protectiveness over her, though, Daisy ended up spending most of the day in the lab with Fitzsimmons and Bobbi. The three of them were eager to study her powers. Jemma had missed most of Fitz’s studies since she’d been swallowed by the Monolith and stranded on a desert planet, but it was clear she was equally as fascinated as him by Daisy’s part-alien DNA, and her control over vibrations. As they knew now that she could change the frequency of her vibrations, they gave her samples of frequencies to match and replicate.

It was fun... at first. After three hours, her head was ringing a little, but her spirits were still high. After six hours, though, Daisy felt as if a jackhammer was pounding into her skull and was ready to punch somebody in the face if Fitz asked her to quake something one more time.

Bobbi was the one to notice her pain. “Daisy, why are you wincing like that?”

“Just a small headache,” she replied with a frail smile. Small was definitely understating it. This was the worst headache she’d ever had. Even worse than the agonizing pulsing after she’d held the Monolith portal open.

Bobbi was staring at her now, looking much more uneasy. “Maybe we should stop for today.”

“No, it’s fine,” she insisted, refusing to be seen as weak. “I can -” She slid off the lab stool, but the dizziness struck her like a freight train and her legs just… gave out beneath her.

Both Fitz and Jemma lunged to catch her, and they slowly lowered her to the floor.

“That is _not_ a small headache,” Fitz said in admonishment, cupping the back of her head to make sure she didn’t whack it against the wall. “Not if you can’t even stand!”

Jemma stroked over her hair fondly as she checked the Inhuman’s vitals, tutting, “Oh, Daisy, why didn’t you tell us you were in so much pain?”

Daisy just shrugged. The foster child in her didn’t want to be seen as whiny or attention-seeking, but she didn’t want to say that aloud. “The sacrifices we make for science,” she tried to joke.

The trio did not find that at all funny. They were horrified and extremely apologetic that they’d worked her so hard, without considering the side-effects. Jemma sent her to bed after a shot of morphine and making sure she was fed and watered. The throbbing in her temples faded slightly, so Daisy honestly thought that the headache was gone.

Not long later, and she was completely miserable and in considerable agony. At one point, her distress sent a ripple of soft seismic waves through the wave, not enough to be counted as an earthquake, but a light tremor all the same. All of the team except Coulson ended up at her bunk door quite quickly after that, concerned at why she was losing control after months of her having perfect precision with her powers.

Daisy held her breath and tried to calm herself down. It didn’t work. The tremors were growing stronger as she panicked. Not wanting the quakes rolling off of her to increase in intensity to the point where she would be shaking the entire base, Daisy took the risk of squashing her emotions down to quell the vibrations. Bone-achingly-deep purple bruises bloomed across the pale skin of her wrists.

“Daisy, stop!” Jemma cried out. “You’re going to fracture your arms.”

She didn’t know if she could stop, honestly, but then May was sitting beside her and drawing her into her arms, and suddenly the vibrations weren’t so loud anymore. “Relax,” May murmured. “Breathe, slowly, in for three and out for three. Don’t hold it in. It’s fine, the Playground can take a couple of tremors.” Leaning back against her mentor, Daisy rolled her shoulders and copied May’s steady breathing pattern, gradually releasing her chokehold on her powers. The thudding in her head continued, triggering spikes of pain in her temples, but no quakes escaped. “Good.”

Jemma covered her arms with bruise cream and wrapped them with bandages securely; her gauntlets were being recalibrated and weren’t exactly suitable for sleeping in, and her friend was concerned that the old compressed microfibre gloves would do more harm than good. Fitz and Lincoln hooked her up to a portable EEG. Lincoln was, after all, the only actual MD on base who was experienced when it came to Inhuman anatomy and physiology. After examining the graph for a moment, Lincoln grimly informed them that Daisy’s brainwaves were very slightly skewed. It indicated that she was overusing her powers, which had caused what he called ‘vibrational feedback’. Basically, her brain was rattling inside her skull.

“That doesn’t sound great,” Hunter commented, alarmed. “She’s not gonna start leaking brain fluids from her nose or anything, right? Daisy, love, you know you’re like a kid sister to me but I’m rubbish when it comes to stomaching brain fluids.”

“No,” Lincoln reassured them. He was being incredibly gentle with Daisy, letting her rest her head on his lap and massaging her temples to relieve some of the pressure. “No brain fluids. It’s essentially a minor concussion.”

“How long will it take for her to recover?” May asked. Her voice was flat, but her worry was obvious.

“A day or two. For now, she needs quiet and bedrest.”

“Daisy? On bedrest?” Bobbi snorted. She had to agree - it did sound ridiculous. Daisy’s powers made her pretty restless these days, wanting to keep constantly moving.

Lincoln’s voice turned stern. “No training tomorrow, no missions for the rest of the week, definitely no work that involves squinting at screens. Daisy, would you like somebody to stay with you overnight?”

She shook her head. She could tell that all of them were fretting about her by their stressed-out vibrations, and while she did appreciate their concern, it wasn’t helping her feel any better. In fact, Daisy was pretty sure that being smothered by their attention and vibrations was making the pounding in her skull even worse.

“All your vibrations are too loud,” she told them, her voice barely a whisper.

They all exchanged bemused glances - except Lincoln, who seemed to understand instantly, thanks to how he’d been one of the first people to actually figure out the basis of her powers. She smiled at her. “Okay, we’ll leave you to rest.”

“I’m sorry, Daisy, there’s really nothing more we can do,” Jemma apologized, her voice hushed and sad. She stayed behind after the others left, to help her clean up and get into pajamas. Jemma sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her hand up and down Daisy’s spine as she curled up and buried her face in her pillow to block out the light, which was making the headache more intense. “You’re going to have to try and sleep this off. Do you want a sedative?”

“No,” she answered hastily. While sedatives did help sleep come easier for her, they always caused her to have nightmares that were difficult to wake up from, meaning she would be trapped in them all night. She’d also found that sedatives made her nauseous since Terrigenesis. “I’ll be fine… thank you.”

But Daisy couldn’t sleep. After three hours of attempting to without any success, it was now 1am - and it was seriously annoying her. Nothing was more frustrating, however, than the awful headache-bordering-on-migraine she was currently suffering from, though. 1am, and Daisy was exhausted beyond belief, but the tension that had built up in her head was coiling even tighter, refusing to release. The pain was radiating down into her neck and shoulders now. Her entire body just… _ached_. And everything was so _loud_. All of the vibrations of literally _everything_ around her were amplified, and attacking her brain like thousands of simultaneous bee-stings. It was making it so hard for her to think and downright impossible for her to relax. All of it was stressing Daisy out, which was making the headache worse. She regretted turning down the offer of the sedative now.

She felt terrible. Incredibly small and vulnerable and helpless. Being in pain like this reminded her of the more abhorrent days she’d spent in foster care or at the orphanage as a child, when she’d been injured and sick, and left to fend for herself in pain, in the dark. Sometimes she’d even been punished for being ill. She’d been totally alone back then. Now, though, she had a family. A huge family, who all loved her and cared for her. Daisy just… didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t want to be drowned out by the world’s vibrations either, and maybe having somebody holding her to ground and focus her would stop that. Really, she just wanted a hug. So she was going to go and get one.

Huffing, Daisy vaulted out of bed and stumbled towards the door. She was dressed in pajamas: a ratty old SHIELD Academy t-shirt that she’d stolen from Jemma back when they’d been living on the BUS, and a set of daisy-patterned pajama pants Bobbi had given her for her birthday. She risked a glance in the mirror and cringed at what she saw. Her hair was a mess, looking like a bird’s nest, and her face was ashen with black smudges underneath her tired eyes.

Trying to comb her hair with her fingers, Daisy staggered out of her bunk in a daze and, without even knowing where she was heading, started walking. She was honestly too fatigued to even run through the options of who out of her friends she wanted to go to. It was so late that everybody was probably asleep. The deafening buzzing in her head made it difficult to drag a coherent thought to the surface from the depths of her battered mind.

Before she knew it, though, Daisy was standing in front of Coulson’s office. The door was swung wide open and she could see easily inside. She hung back in the doorway, head swimming, as she tried to focus her somewhat blurry eyesight on the people inside. She couldn’t at all concentrate on the voices.

After a beat, Daisy realized that Coulson was sitting behind his desk at one end, looking over paperwork, while Price sat at the other end and was reading something on a tablet. It was 1am and the two of them were still working on the Malick thing? And Daisy thought that her fixation on rescuing and helping Inhumans was bad.

She stood in the doorway silently for a good couple of minutes, swaying from side to side on unsteady feet. Her brain just wasn’t functioning well enough for her to think of anything to say. Coulson was always willing and prepared to take care of her and comfort her when she needed him - he was almost like a father in that respect, and Daisy wasn’t ashamed to admit that she did look up to him as a father-figure in a lot of ways… although she was a little embarrassed. But right now, all she could force her exhausted brain to think of was that Coulson gave really, really good hugs when he wanted to.

Eventually, her presence in the doorway was noticed - by Price, not by Coulson. The woman startled at her appearance and narrowed her eyes before saying something that Daisy was too tired to understand. Given by the fact that Coulson instantly raised his head to stare worriedly at her, though, Price must have called her name, or his name.

“Skye?” he asked, getting her name wrong _again_ (it was kind of endearing despite being irritating) but his voice so gentle that Daisy found herself sighing quietly. Price frowned at him when he said the wrong name. “Sorry. Daisy. It’s late, what are you doing up? Fitz told me about what happened today. You feeling any better?”

She didn’t respond, just blinked at him. Once again, her brain refused to connect with her mouth and she just stood there staring hopelessly, feeling like a toddler lost in the foster system who was failing to communicate all over again. Tears brimmed in her eyes. The agonizing echoes of overpowering vibrations were washing over her like a tidal wave that was sweeping her out into a dark sea, and Daisy didn’t know if she was going to be able to keep her head above the water for much longer. She wanted a hug and she wanted it to be quiet.

When she blinked again, Coulson was standing in front of her, repeating her name concernedly. He cupped her right cheek tenderly and she obediently lifted her chin so he could examine her pupils to check their dilation. The second his hand fell away, Daisy slumped forwards onto his chest, burying her face in his shoulder with a shaky exhalation.

“Daisy?” he asked, his voice now strained with anxiety. His arms wrapped around her to keep her upright against him when her knees threatened to buckle. Daisy shook her head minutely, keeping her face pressed into his shoulder. His vibrations told her that he was tired and overworked, but they were a lot calmer than the ones raining hellfire in her skull, so she locked on and focused on them. “Talk to me, sweetheart,” Coulson continued softly.

Daisy tremored at the term of endearment. Before she could even stop it, “Dad,” slipped out, her voice hoarse and weary. Coulson didn’t even flinch, although his vibrations did tick up in surprise. Across the room, Price must have overheard as well because her vibrations registered as shocked and confused.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Coulson stroked his hand over the back of her head soothingly. “Is it your migraine?”

The noise that was ripped from her throat in reply was nothing more than a pathetic whimper. Daisy was starkly aware that they were currently being observed rather judgementally by Price. She curled her arms into her chest protectively and tried to shrink into Coulson’s embrace, vanish into his vibrations. Here she was in the middle of the night, coming to the Director of SHIELD’s office in her pajamas, crying because of a lousy headache and calling him Dad and desperately needing to be comforted like a baby. Price had only ever seen her as a powerful and dangerous Inhuman agent before. She’d never seen Daisy as _Daisy_.

“S’loud,” she finally managed to say, voice muffled by Coulson’s shirt.

He leaned back, brushing her hair away from her face delicately. “What was that?”

“Headache. Makes all the vibrations… loud,” she forced out. “Too loud. Hurts… my brain.”

“Okay,” he replied quietly, as if he understood when she knew that he didn’t really. But he was trying and that was enough for her. “I know Simmons can’t give you any more pain meds tonight, but is there anything you think I can do to help?”

Daisy hunched into his shoulder. “This. Helps. Your vibrations… calm it down.”

Fortunately, Coulson understood without her even needing to say anything more. He supported her with his arms around her waist as he helped her over to one of the chairs in front of his desk. Easing Daisy down into it with far more care than was necessary, he snagged a blanket from somewhere and draped it over her shoulders, before laying a heavy hand on her left. The bandages Jemma had wrapped around her bruised wrists earlier were unraveling, revealing the mottled purple, green and yellow tinged skin beneath.

Coulson’s expression was contorted with horror as he peered down at them. He knelt and grazed his thumb lightly over the top of one of the bruises before raising his gaze to meet her eyes. Daisy didn’t even realize that she’d been silently crying until he brushed the tears off her cheeks. He looked so sad for her. 

“I thought you’d learned how to stop this from happening,” he whispered.

She hated disappointing him. “Couldn’t calm down,” Daisy mumbled. She hated how young and vulnerable she felt. It was safe for her to feel like this around Coulson, but with Price watching on from a couple of feet away, she didn’t want to lower her emotional walls. “Didn’t… didn’t wanna hurt anybody with the quakes.”

“The answer to that is never internalizing your powers and hurting yourself,” he admonished softly.

“I know,” she sniffled. “I’m sorry.”

Coulson squeezed her knee. “You’re really not doing so great, are you?”

She shook her head, flinching when it heightened the dizziness.

“If my vibrations help reduce your headache, how about I sit with you in your bunk until you fall sleep?”

“Not my bunk.” Daisy didn’t know how to explain that the room was too small and enclosed, making all of the vibrations echo around her noisily. It was normally pitch black as well, once the lights were switched off, which wouldn’t help with her claustrophobia. “Common room.”

“Alright, if that’s what you’d prefer. I’m going to quickly tidy my paperwork up and put it away, and then we’ll go sit on the couch in the common area, okay?” Daisy bowed her head with another tremulous exhalation. “Hey. Look at me,” he requested gently. She cracked her eyes open, peering down at his worried face. Worry for her. “You think you can wait that long? It will take five minutes max.”

Honestly, she wasn’t sure whether she could wait or not. Already now, without Coulson hugging her and his vibrations canceling out the ones assaulting her brain, the terrible throbbing pain was starting to return, making the world spin.

Price cleared her throat quietly. “Phil.” Daisy’s brow furrowed and she turned her head slightly so she could glance sideways at the woman. There was a strange expression on her face. Something akin to regret and understanding and… sympathy. “I’ll deal with the paperwork. You take care of your daughter.”

 _Your daughter._ Price thought she was Coulson’s daughter. Daisy didn’t know whether to be sheepish or proud or both. Then again, she did call him Dad barely a minute ago and Coulson didn’t do or say anything to dispute the claim. In fact, he reinforced it. It sent a warm feeling flooding through Daisy’s body, battling back the biting pain.

There was a beat of silence and then Coulson warned, his voice low, “If you’re planning on using this information against us in _any_ way -”

“I’m not completely heartless,” Price cut him off. “And I’m certainly not the kind of woman who would attempt to blackmail or threaten a father when it comes to his child. If I’d known before, when we first met… Just go with Daisy. I can finish up here, and I know where the guest bunk is for when I’m done.”

Coulson regarded her cautiously. Daisy understood why. She was nervous, because Price’s voice had become short and snappy for a second there, and she could feel the woman’s tense vibrations… but she’d sounded relatively sincere. There was, of course, no actual ‘information’ that Price could use against them, as Daisy wasn’t actually the Director of SHIELD’s daughter, but Price could turn around and very well accuse him of favoritism, nepotism, and being soft on her. _Compromised_. That was the word. Sometimes Daisy thought that the only reason she wasn’t being treated as a higher-level threat, despite her Index categorization, was because Coulson saw her as the daughter he’d never had.

Slowly, Coulson got back to his feet from his kneeling position. “Thank you,” he replied. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, breakfast on me.” He tapped Daisy’s shoulder lightly, drawing her attention. Her vision was going all bleary again as the buzzing continued to ramp up. “Do you think you can walk, sweetheart, or is it alright if I carry you?”

Daisy was pretty certain that she was going to end up passing out and collapsing to the floor if she tried to stand, let alone walk to the common area, so she mumbled, “Carry,” with heat rushing to her cheeks. 

Without an ounce of hesitance, Coulson aided her into standing and then swept Daisy off her feet and into his arms, blanket and all. He shifted her carefully in his grasp until he was cradling her against his chest like she was a baby. She sighed in relief at the close contact and while using one arm around his neck to anchor herself to him, curled her other hand into his shirt tightly.

Coulson didn’t waste any time and carried Daisy out of his office and down the hallway towards the common area. His vibrations were calm - steady; loud enough so that all the other vibrations surrounding her faded to the background, but not loud enough to thunder in her skull and increase the pain. Resting her head on his shoulder, Daisy pressed her forehead to the side of his neck and closed her eyes.

“Going down,” Coulson warned her, once he’d carried her into the common room. It was with excessive care that he bent over to lay her out on the couch, fluffing a pillow to prop under her head and re-adjusting her blanket. “Is the light hurting your eyes or can I turn them on?”

“A little,” she rasped.

Coulson nodded. Quite honestly, Daisy still wasn’t used to having somebody ready to help her so willingly, let alone a father figure who wanted to show affection and take care of her, so it threw her for a loop when Coulson then began to move around the room to make things more comfortable for her. He turned a lamp in the corner on and then covered it with a throw from the other couch to dim the brightness, and then grabbed a glass of water from the kitchenette area. 

He helped her sit up so she could drink about half of it, knowing the fluids would help with the headache and ignoring the faint twisting in her stomach. Once she’d had enough, she passed the glass back with a shaking hand. Patting her hand gently as if praising her for drinking as much as she did, Coulson then slid into position at the end of the couch so that Daisy could sit next to him with her legs curled beneath her.

It was the perfect position for her to lean against his shoulder and pillow her head against his collarbone. His arm wrapped around her to pull her closer, in a half-hug. His vibrations washed over her and drowned out the others, causing the tension built up in her skull to begin to ease. She breathed in out silent relief. 

“Daisy.” She blinked up at Coulson. He looked troubled. “I know that you hate sedatives, but that migraine of yours is only going to get worse if you don’t sleep.”

She heaved a sigh. “Fine,” she muttered. She could probably cope with the nausea that a sedative threw at her. The terrible ringing in her head was dying down, but not enough for her to be able to rest. At least her mind was a lot clearer now, making it easier to concentrate and talk.

“Hey, I’m not going to force you to accept a sedative if you seriously don’t want one,” he told her, rubbing her arm supportively. “That’s your choice, okay?”

“I’ll take it,” Daisy replied tiredly. “Should have said yes to Jemma in the first place. I really do wanna sleep but the headache won’t let me.”

“Alright, I’ll text Simmons and ask her to bring one down here.”

“You’ll wake her up,” she argued.

“I don’t think she’ll mind, considering it’s to help you,” Coulson reassured her. “And to be honest, I doubt Jemma is asleep right now either. Bobbi told me that she’s been getting into a habit of waking up just after midnight and working in the labs before heading back to bed after a couple of hours.”

That was true - Daisy had caught Jemma curled up in her pajamas running simulations on the lab monitors at 2am only last week, when she’d just arrived back from a mission and the adrenaline pumping through her veins meant she couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t common knowledge around the base, but Daisy knew that Jemma was researching for possible ways to return to the planet she’d been stranded on, to rescue an American astronaut who had helped her survive there. After hearing about how the Inhuman had managed to open a portal with her powers, Jemma had thought it might be possible for Daisy to open a portal again, using shards and dust from the destroyed Monolith. It hadn’t worked. Jemma was still trying, though. Daisy admired her best friend’s sheer determination, but was worried about the effects it had on her mental health.

“Daisy?”

She furrowed her brow and squinted up at Coulson, confused at the slightly disconcerted tone of his voice. He had his cell phone in hand, no doubt because he’d just finished sending a message to Jemma, but he was staring down at her with a frown. She realized why he was unnerved, however, when she felt light tremors dancing off her skin. They were making the couch shake. It was thinking about the Monolith that had triggered it; her chest always tightened when she remembered the toll it took on her body and mental health, to have to keep that portal open long enough for Fitz to return with Jemma.

“Sorry.” The tremors died down. If she had the energy, she would be embarrassed. She snuggled into Coulson’s chest, just in case her face was flushed, because she didn’t want him to see that. “Got a tornado of thoughts jumbling up my brain right now.”

“That’s okay,” he promised. “Just don’t try and contain them. We don’t want you shattering your arms again.” He paused, then added, “Plus, I think Fitzsimmons would kill me if it happened on my watch. Lincoln would _definitely_ electrocute me.”

“Don’t worry, I doubt he’s gonna use Thunderbolt on you,” she murmured, liking how Coulson was now combing the tangles out of her hair with his fingers delicately. “He knows May would kick his ass.” A beat passed and then she mumbled, somewhat bitterly, “Gotta contain the quakes though. _Rosalind’s_ understanding can only stretch so far.”

The brief silence that fell between them now was no longer in the comfortable zone. Daisy wished she hadn’t tagged that acidic comment on the end of her statement. She was exhausted and in pain, and she didn’t want to get into this with Coulson now, despite how desperately it needed to be addressed.

“I know you don’t like Rosalind, and you have a good reason for that, but she is trying to help us take down Malick and recover the kidnapped Inhumans right now,” he said heavily.

A spark of anger flickered in Daisy’s chest. She slid away from Coulson to the other end of the couch, breaking the point of contact between them. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut. Vibrations were bombarding her again, amplifying the pounding in her head.

Everything just came pouring out of her, the intense emotions she’d been locking down ever since that day where Coulson informed her that he was going to be consulting with the ATCU bursting forth. “They were only kidnapped in the first place because she’s been rounding us up for bragging rights with the government, and then shoving us into stasis pods as if we’re monsters to be caged and kept as trophies. And you - you’ve been letting her. Helping her. In some - some twisted effort to protect me from being exposed by them. And you’ve been making me help her too, even though I don’t want to, I _never_ wanted to.” Daisy wiped at her eyes frantically, hating how she was tearing up. “Like I’m your pet monster on a leash, performing tricks and hunting my own kind at your command, for their amusement.”

The look Coulson regarded her with could only be described as one of utter devastation. “You are not a monster.”

“She thinks I am,” Daisy said miserably. “Her agents think I am. Everybody else on the team has been acting like my bodyguards ever since you let them into the Playground because they think they’re gonna try and shoot Lincoln and I. Mack and Fitz say they look at me funny. And they do. They don’t even see me a _person_.” Her stomach somersaulted remembering it. She felt as if she was going to throw up. Not because of her migraine, but because thinking about this sort of thing made her feel _lesser_ and reminded her of the empty hollow that had lived in her chest since she was a child, up until Terrigenesis. “I don’t wanna talk about this anymore,” she whispered.

Coulson looked dismayed, but didn’t argue. “Okay.”

He held his hand out to her, an offer to draw her back into his side for a hug. He wasn’t going to push her to speak about things that damaged her and made her feel sick when she was already ill, but she knew that he would press this issue at a later date. Daisy couldn’t bring herself to cling to him like the broken little girl she was inside, already feeling as if a raw nerve had been exposed and that she might actually fall to pieces if he embraced her. Instead, she curled up with her head pillowed on his lap and drifted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your support! Please know it's greatly appreciated.

Daisy wasn’t sure how long she ended up sleeping for, but she stirred back to full consciousness when Jemma finally arrived. She didn’t come alone. May was at her side, looking far more awake and lucid than the biochemist. While Jemma was clearly dead on her feet, all wrapped up in a dressing gown and looking about ready to collapse into bed, the specialist was already dressed in her morning tai chi gear.

May wordlessly sank down into the couch cushions after lifting up Daisy’s feet, running her hand up and down the Inhuman’s side comfortingly. This was how May showed her affection - through small but meaningful actions. Although her vibrations were higher-pitched than Coulson’s, they almost seemed to sync up, May’s vibrations buzzing twice the speed but filling in the gaps of the director’s.

“Simmons is going to give you the sedative shot, check your arms, and then she is going to go straight to bed,” May said, hitting the biochemist with a strict look. “Aren’t you, Jemma?”

Daisy twitched. May rarely called Fitz or Simmons by their first names unless she felt as if they’d slipped into mental states where they could only be reached by her being firm with them. Jemma mumbled her agreement and went through the motions of preparing a site for the injection on Daisy’s thigh, rather than her arms. The needle pinched a little, which made her wrinkle her nose, but Coulson’s fingers running through her hair and May’s soothing hand rubbing her hip helped distract her. Jemma then smoothed more bruise cream over her wrists and tightened her bandages to the point where they were taut but not cutting off her circulation.

“Your pupils aren’t as dilated anymore, so you’re getting better. Thank god for rapid Inhuman healing. I’ll check on you again in the morning,” Jemma whispered, brushing a kiss against Daisy’s forehead. “Goodnight.”

“‘Night, Jem,” she hummed, the sedative already making her feel a little floaty. “Love you. M’glad you’re back.”

“Love you too. And I’m very happy to be back as well.” Jemma rose to full height. “Goodnight Agent May, goodnight sir.”

They both echoed her goodnight quietly. It was only once Jemma had exited the common room and a couple of minutes had passed that Coulson and May started talking hushedly to each other about how it might be good to lock up the lab at a set time every night, to try and put a stop to Jemma’s midnight visits and get her back on a regular sleeping schedule. They sounded like parents when they discussed things like that. They were acting like parents right now, watching over her as the sedative gradually worked its way through Daisy’s bloodstream and started weighing down her mind and body.

“How’s that headache?” Coulson murmured, glancing his thumb over her cheek.

“Better,” she slurred. The world definitely wasn’t as overwhelming or loud anymore, and the stabbing pains had been reduced to a dull throbbing. “Thank you.”

“Think you can fall asleep now?”

Daisy wasn’t sure. The sedative was making her feel drowsy, but the usual cramping of her stomach was beginning, making her feel sick. “Might take a while.”

“Seems as if a lot of us are having issues with sleeping right now,” May remarked, tugging on Daisy’s blanket so it covered her cold feet as well. “I caught Fitz trying to sneak your gauntlets and his toolkit into his bunk. He said he likes tinkering with them when the insomnia hits.”

“And you?” Coulson questioned curiously. “You’re up three hours earlier than normal. I thought tai chi was at 5am.”

May pressed her thumb into Daisy’s calves, relieving the tightness in the muscles. It was a pleasant kind of pain, contrasting to the clenching in her abdomen and hammering in her head. “Finding it hard to stand down with everything going on. Too many thoughts, too much adrenaline. I was planning on starting tai chi early when I saw Simmons preparing a sedative shot in the labs.” She sighed. “Can’t seem to quiet my mind.”

There was a beat and then Coulson was whispering, “Andrew?”

Daisy tried not to tense upon hearing the name, but couldn’t withhold her flinch. Everything that had happened with Andrew recently, with Lash and the serial killings of Inhumans and Lincoln… there was a dark voice at the back of her mind insisting that it was all her fault. Everything was even worse than before, because she was the one who had agreed that putting him temporarily in an ATCU stasis pod was a good idea, and now Andrew was in HYDRA’s hands.

May seemed to sense her growing distress because she shushed Daisy tenderly, her hand returning to those sweeping movements up over the Inhuman’s side and arm. Coulson caught on, and stroked his thumb over the edge of her cheek. It took a minute before Daisy was able to relax again, the sedative making her pliant and sleepy, and nudging her gently into being calm.

“Andrew is one part of it,” May admitted. It must have been the late/early hour making them all slightly delirious, because May wasn’t usually one to open up so easily about her feelings. “Ward and HYDRA are another.” Her voice was biting when she continued, “The main one at the moment is about the trigger-happy xenophobic government drones you’ve been allowing into our base.” 

“So you’re angry with me about the ATCU being here too, huh?” Coulson sounded exhausted. But there was an irritation buried beneath it, turning his vibrations aggressive, which Daisy seriously didn’t like. “I did think your recent glares have been more pointed than your regular ones. Daisy beat you to it; she just chewed me out over it.”

“Did she tell you how your personal feelings towards Director Price have compromised your decisions as the Director of SHIELD regarding the ATCU’s mistreatment of Inhumans, and therefore placed her, Lincoln, and many other Inhumans in danger?” May asked bluntly. A shiver ran down Daisy’s spine. Her mentor laid her hand on her hip. Unlike Coulson, whose vibrations were now whirring with frustration, her own vibrations were still calm. “Sorry, Daisy. I don’t mean to talk about you like you’re not here.”

“S’okay,” she mumbled.

“Okay, yes, I care about Rosalind,” Coulson snapped. “And I’ll admit that a lot of her views and policies concerning Inhumans are wrong, but she is trying to protect them in her own way, and is helping us work out how to take down HYDRA and Malick. But caring about Rosalind and caring about Daisy are not mutually exclusive things.”

“They are when Price holds opinions that undermine and attempt to invalidate Daisy’s very existence.”

“I’ve been trying to change that! I’ve had her talk to Daisy, try and understand things from the Inhuman perspective!”

“Did you ask or order Daisy to talk to her?” May questioned.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with -”

“Would you order me to talk to the lower level agents here who constantly call me the Cavalry, knowing that it makes me uncomfortable and upset?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why would you order Daisy to try and humanize herself in the eyes of the bigots of the government, who see her as nothing more than a disease to be contained and cured? You can’t seem to be objective here, Phil. But at the same time, you’re ignoring how Daisy feels about all of this. You owe Daisy, Lincoln, Mack - hell, everybody on the team, an apology for how you’ve been forcing them to interact with the ATCU when it’s been unnecessarily stressing them out.”

“Stop trying to make me into the bad guy here, Mel.”

His anger was not helping Daisy’s rising nausea and remaining headache, so she sighed sadly and heaved herself up on her aching arms, legs swinging off the cushions limply. She would have liked to keep cuddling up to him, but she couldn’t deal with his negative energy right now in her fatigued, pained state. Especially not as her eyelids kept fluttering shut, sleepiness finally beginning to set in. Coulson froze at her sudden movements. Flopping against May, Daisy snuggled up to her instead. Her composed, steady vibrations were a balm to the man’s exasperation. May didn’t appear to know what to do for a moment, but then shifted and twisted so that torso was more open and it was easier for the Inhuman to curl up against her.

“Really?” Coulson said testily. “That’s how it’s gonna be? I defend Rosalind and myself, and you pull away from me completely?”

“Oh, grow up, Phil,” May rolled her eyes. “Daisy can sense people’s emotions using her powers. You’re pissed off right now, which is probably just making whatever pain she is feeling worse. I’m calmer - of course she’s going to gravitate towards me when you’re like this. Being annoyed at her for wanting to feel better is not going to help the situation.”

Another beat of silence and then Coulson muttered, suitably chastised, “I’m sorry.”

“Not a proper apology, but it will do for now.” May tucked a stray lock of Daisy’s hair behind her ear and rested her chin on top of her head lightly, arms winding around her in a light hug. “I can tell you’re barely keeping your eyes open. Don’t resist the sedative. Sleep.”

“Don’t fight anymore,” Daisy mumbled, darkness creeping into her vision. She finally allowed her eyes to close and breathed out slowly, muscles relaxing. “Don’t want my parents fighting.”

“Oh, we’re your parents now?” May chuckled dryly.

“She called me Dad earlier. In front of Rosalind.”

“She thinks Daisy is your daughter?” The thrill of amusement in May’s voice made Daisy’s lips tick up in a small smile. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how opposed would you be if I brought the rest of the team into this and pretended to be her mother in the morning?”

“Melinda,” Coulson reprimanded her, but he didn’t sound very serious about it.

Daisy tried to turn her head minutely so she was facing him, but was already slipping off to sleep and couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. “I’m down to prank the Dragon Lady.”

May shot her a blank look, raising one eyebrow. She poked her arm, none too gently. “Daisy. Sleep, _xiǎohuā_. If you’re not passed out in the next ten seconds, we’re sparring with escrima sticks next training session.”

“Tyrant,” she mumbled. That was a veiled threat and a half. Daisy hated sparring with escrima sticks, only because May had far better hand-eye coordination than her and she always ended up getting whacked in the hip or shoulderblade when she slipped stance. Sighing, she cuddled into May’s side, smiling when Coulson’s hand settled on her back as he shifted closer to them. “ _Wǒ ài nǐ, Māmā_. Love you, Dad.”

Their vibrations, warm with affection and fondness, soothed the remaining throbbing pains in her skull from her migraine. With heaviness sinking into Daisy’s body, draining the tension from her limbs, the darkness that accompanied sleep crept over her and drew her into restful unconsciousness.

When Daisy awoke late the next morning, she was lying sprawled out in bed in her bunk, comforter shoved to the messy floor. She rubbed her eyes groggily, forcing herself to sit up despite how she felt as if she was weighted down with lead. Her migraine, fortunately, was nowhere near as agonizing as it was last night. Although there was still a very mild ache there, Daisy reckoned that was due to dehydration, rather than her powers being overtaxed. The vibrations surrounding her were muted and settled as they usually were when she wasn’t focusing on them, indicating her powers had recovered and were back to normal.

She couldn’t remember returning to her bunk. The last thing that Daisy could recall was calling Coulson and May ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ as she dozed off into a sedative-coaxed sleep, snuggled between the two of them on the common room couch. Coulson must have carried her back and tucked her in once she was fully out.

No doubt he and May would have continued their argument regarding the ATCU and Price as soon as she was in bed and they were in private. To be honest, Daisy had not expected May to go off at Coulson about that issue. While the other members of the team had been extremely vocal about their distaste concerning the ATCU being allowed in the Playground around her and Lincoln, their contempt about how Coulson was making them work with the organization that abused and dehumanized Inhumans… May had been quiet.

Daisy hadn’t judged her for it at all. In fact, she’d understood. She’d thought that it was because of Bahrain; their constant talk of how the ATCU were being too harsh towards powered individuals was bound to stir up traumatic memories for May, of when she had no choice but to use lethal force against a psychotic Inhuman little girl to save the lives of innocents. Instead, it seemed as if May hadn’t raised her voice before because she wanted to raise it at the right person: Coulson.

A series of three sharp knocks on her door startled Daisy out of her musings. Vaulting out of bed, she tried to stand, but her legs failed to hold her weight initially. Finally, with a grunt of effort, she was able to stumble up and across her bunk. The moment she managed to slide the door open, however, Daisy’s knees gave out.

“Whoa there!” Lincoln leaped forwards to catch her beneath her armpits. “Good morning. I don’t think your legs have quite woken up yet, Dais,” he joked.

Daisy blushed and blinked up at him with a wry smile. “Guess not. Migraine’s pretty much gone, though. Good morning.” A quick glance down alerted her to the fact that Lincoln had the portable EEG device tucked beneath his arm, as well as her medical chart. “Ah. Not a social call. Did Jemma send you to prod at me?”

Lincoln shrugged, helping her back onto her bed. “I volunteered. Happy to do it, honestly. I like helping to take care of you, and this helps me feel useful around here. Plus, the alternative was helping Coulson make pancakes with that ATCU witch staring at me the whole time.” Hie smirked as he began hooking her up to the EEG, also checking her vitals and pupil reactions. “I had a feeling you’d prefer me to Agent Simmons as well. She’s remarkably pokey when it comes to Inhumans, I’ve noticed.”

“She loves her needles,” Daisy laughed. “Did I hear you say something about Coulson making pancakes?”

Lincoln hummed as he rubbed his fingers lightly over the bruises on her arms - the vibrant purple mottling them had faded into pale green and yellow splotches. “For the whole team, is what I heard from May when I was grabbing coffee. I think Hunter and Bobbi might have gone out for the day, but Fitzsimmons and Mack will definitely be there. May said something about ‘the game being afoot’?”

Daisy eyed him in disbelief. Did May mean what she thought she meant? Was she really getting the entire team involved in a _prank_ against Rosalind Price, where they were going to trick her into thinking the Inhuman was Coulson and May’s child? This was going to be entertaining for sure.

The electrokinetic finished up her check-up with clinical efficiency, although the way his hand lingered on top of hers after he took the pulse oximeter off was anything but professional. He was still concerned about the vibrational feedback and the long-term effects on her brain, and even more worried about her wrists. Even though they were just badly bruised, Lincoln told her that repetitive capillary ruptures could, in fact, cause permanent damage. He told her that he was going to ask Jemma to keep an eye on their healing. Daisy wanted to complain that he was being overprotective, but could see that he was genuinely worried.

Lincoln wasn’t going to join them for breakfast; he still couldn’t stand the idea of being in the same room as somebody from the ATCU, and Agent Piper from STRIKE was going to give him a gym induction. He brushed a kiss on Daisy’s forehead and murmured that she should go and grab some pancakes, as her blood sugar levels were low.

“Oh, and you should stay in those PJs,” Lincoln chuckled with a wink, as he was exiting her bunk. “You look adorable. About as threatening as a kitten. You’ll have the ATCU quaking in their boots.”

Daisy rolled her eyes and sent a miniature shockwave to playfully knock the clipboard out of his hand. Yelping, Lincoln lunged to grab it before it hit the floor. With a half-hearted glare, he stuck his tongue out at her before grinning and aiming a tiny bolt of electricity to knock her back onto her ass. He vanished out of the door and allowed it to slam shut behind him before Daisy could scramble back to her feet in time to retaliate.

It was already 10am, meaning that she’d technically slept in for five hours, so she figured that it wouldn’t matter if she looked a little unkempt when she appeared for breakfast. Everyone on base, including the team, was fully aware of her terrible end to yesterday, so they probably wouldn’t judge her for walking around the Playground in pajamas. Daisy settled on heading into her ensuite half-bath to wash her face and brush her teeth; she tried to drag a hairbrush through her hair, but it was too tangled, so she just gathered it up into a messy bun instead. Once she’d changed undergarments, reluctantly put on a bra, and changed her t-shirt, Daisy followed the heavenly smell of fried pancake batter and maple syrup to the commons.

When she entered the room, rubbing the sleep-dust from her eyes with a yawn, everybody looked up at her. Fitzsimmons were sitting at the dining table together, nursing cups of tea, and sharing a plate of crumpets with marmalade Fitz’s mother had sent them. Daisy’s gauntlets were lying in a heap along with some tools at the end of the table, indicating that Fitz was working on them between sips and bites. Jemma immediately jumped up to check her over, despite having sent Lincoln earlier. Mack was leaning against the island counter, re-filling a mug with coffee from the large communal french press; he waved and grinned in greeting.

Coulson was flitting around the kitchen, flipping pancakes on two separate frying pans, while May watched amusedly as she pulled orange juice from the fridge. Price was also sitting at the table opposite Fitz, looking extremely uncomfortable to be caught in such a domestic situation.

“Hey, Tremors,” Mack said enthusiastically. “How ya feelin’?”

“Loads better,” Daisy replied with a genuine smile.

May emitted a quiet, uncertain hum, glancing back at her with a raised eyebrow while plucking her tin of loose-leaf tea from the shelf. “Lincoln confirm that?”

“He said my vitals are steady and my brainwaves are all back to normal. The migraine is 95% gone. The only thing wrong with me now is that I’m _starving_.”

“Inhuman metabolism,” Coulson pointed his spatula at her triumphantly. “I knew my choice of pancakes this morning was the right one. A special breakfast to celebrate your victory over your migraine!”

“Your father’s even whipped fresh cream by hand for you.” May fake-glowered at the director. Thankfully, Daisy was prepared for the parent references to arise, so she didn’t startle. “You spoil her.”

“ _I_ spoil her?” Coulson scoffed.

“You do, sir,” Jemma admitted apologetically.

Fitz nodded, rubbing crumbs from his mouth. “Definitely.”

“See, the other kids agree,” May lifted her chin.

“Are you forgetting that time you woke up at 3am to make celebratory dou sha bou for our daughter after the first time she managed to throw you on the mats?”

_Our daughter_. Those two words, plus Coulson bringing up that wonderful memory from last year, caused Daisy’s grin to widen. She’d never had steamed red bean buns before that day. It had been an amazing surprise, especially considering that she’d heard that May was abysmal in the kitchen. Dou sha bou was one of five dishes that May could actually cook without risking burning the place down. It was her mother’s recipe, and one that May had promised to one day pass down and teach to Daisy.

May had nothing to say in her defense. She just shrugged her shoulders, measuring out loose tea with a spoon into a tea infuser, and responded simply, “That was something worth properly celebrating.”

“Only you would think that me managing to throw you during a sparring session is a reason for reward, Mom,” Daisy snickered.

For a second, it felt remarkably weird saying that word. Weird calling May ‘Mom’. But a heartbeat later, and it didn’t feel strange at all. May had always been a mother figure to her, albeit an initially stern one, since the moment they’d met. Nobody deserved the title of Mom more than she did, in Daisy’s eyes.

There was a slight flicker in her mentor’s eyes, hearing Daisy call her that (in English) for the first time, and a small smile played on her lips. May hastily schooled her expression, however, and her gaze darted to Price. The woman had a bemused, discomfited look on her face, and was watching their discussion with her eyes swinging back and forth, like it was a tennis match. The ploy was going well so far, it seemed.

“Sorry,” Daisy said, faking a nervous voice. “Are - I’m not sure what we’re keeping secret or not with… _her_ here.” She looked over at Price, swallowing, before turning her attention back to Coulson. “I know I slipped up at least once last night.”

“You did, but May and I don’t blame you for that. You were pretty out of it because of your migraine. Yes, Rosalind is now aware of your more personal relationship to us,” Coulson explained gently.

Daisy nodded, and then risked a glance back at Price. The woman’s tense vibrations were washing off her in waves. She was eyeing the Inhuman warily, as if seeing her in a new light for the first time. “Sorry,” she said, not feeling very sorry at all and that coming across in her impassive voice. “It was safer for only our closest and most trusted friends, and those we consider family, to know.”

“Agent Daisy _Johnson_ , huh?” was all Price said in response, her tone snipey. 

Deciding that it was better to keep things mostly truthful - just twisting it a little bit - Daisy shrugged. “Well, I can’t very well be called Agent May or Agent Coulson, when we already have one of each. Johnson is a simple, generic surname. If the wrong people know about my real identity, there’s a risk our relationship will be used against us.” No lies there at all. Being Agent Johnson _was_ a cover - for her being the leader of the Secret Warriors, SHIELD’s Inhuman specialist, and the left hand of the Director (May being his right hand, of course).

“At least she’s using her real first name now,” Jemma spoke up, kicking the chair out at the head of the table next to her for Daisy to slide into. She poured her a tall glass of orange juice and pushed it towards her insistingly. “When Fitz and I first met her, she was going by Skye.”

“Yeah, it was over a year before we learned who you really are - two years before we got to learn your real name,” Fitz quipped. “And to think, Mack had your relationship with Coulson and May all figured out within two minutes of meeting you!”

Mack snorted into his coffee. “I mean, c’mon, Turbo, it’s kind of obvious. One glimpse of Daisy standing between them, and everything clicked into place. She’s their kid through and through. Her attitude, mannerisms, and habits are scarily similar to theirs.”

The three of them were even better at this than she was, Daisy mused. They were manipulating the truth to fit it into this story.

“I’m surprised you allowed your daughter to follow you into this profession,” Price said, her gaze fixed on Coulson’s back. There was still a tremor of suspicion in her vibrations. “Not exactly appropriate to be considered a family business.”

“As if we could stop her,” May grumbled, sounding suitably grumpy about it. “It’s like she’s a magnet for danger. You know, she hacked the Pentagon when she was fourteen?”

“Didn’t get caught,” Daisy reminded her. It was still one of her proudest achievements. She’d bragged about it many times over when she’d first joined the team, but they hadn’t believed her at first. Then she’d cracked into the FBI’s systems in less than twenty minutes for one of their missions… they’d started believing her then.

“She hacked into SHIELD several dozen times as well, started working as a hacktivist. Didn’t take the traditional route to get into SHIELD, via the Academies. She let herself get caught hacking into our secure files, so she could get onto our plane and elbow her way onto our team. We already had Fitzsimmons on board and they were basically kids, untrained for combat, and it was dangerous work, so I didn’t want her involved. Coulson was a pushover.”

The man placed a plate piled high with a huge stack of pancakes in front of Daisy. Maple syrup bottle, a small bowl of whipped cream, and a side plate of sliced banana, strawberries, and blueberries, followed along after. “Daisy saved our lives several times over during her probationary period on the BUS. We wouldn’t be alive right now if I weren’t a _pushover_ , as you put it.”

“She did have a habit of defying orders and breaking protocol,” Jemma said thoughtfully. The inhuman frowned at her from across the table. “Sorry, but it’s true. You kept dragging me into your _bad girl shenanigans_.”

Daisy rolled her eyes and shot a look at Price, who was narrowing her eyes. “Simmons always likes to blame me for the time she shot a superior officer in the chest with an ICER. He _did_ turn out to be a HYDRA Nazi, though, so he deserved it.”

“The fall of SHIELD, that all occurred before you went through Terrigenesis?” Price asked stiffly. At least she was trying to make somewhat polite conversation. It was also clear that she was fishing for more information though.

“Way before,” Coulson answered for her, dropping down into the spare chair between the two women. Daisy started digging into her breakfast, her gurgling stomach beginning to cramp and desperate for food. “SHIELD and the wider world didn’t even know about the existence of Inhumans. Daisy was still going by Skye back then, and she wasn’t a field agent yet. We’d just given her her official SHIELD Level 1 status. She was our computer science and cybersecurity consultant and pattern analyst.”

Daisy attempted to catch his eye to silently tell him to shut up. He was giving away all of the intel that Price wanted without any kind of a fight, and quite honestly, she wasn’t all that comfortable with the idea of the head of the ATCU knowing so much about her past. May, ever the all-knowing one, laid a reassuring hand on Daisy’s shoulder. Peering up at her, Daisy conveyed with her eyes and a twitch of her lips how grateful she was for her mentor’s support. May just nodded once and squeezed her fingers.

“Tremors was so young,” Mack said wistfully, a teasing lilt to his voice. “A baby.”

Daisy immediately scowled at him. “I was not a baby!”

“When I met you, you had bangs,” Mack grinned. “And you thought they made you look more mature, but they just made you look like a teenager. You’re the youngest on the team. A _baby_.” Three seconds later he spluttered when he tried to take a sip of his coffee and found it frozen solid. It had been stupidly easy; all Daisy’d had to do was concentrate on slowing down the vibrations of the coffee to the point where the water in the drink turned to ice. “ _Daisy!_ ”

“You were asking for that, partner,” Daisy smirked. “I’m _not_ a baby.”

May dipped down and kissed the crown of her head. “You’ll always be _my_ baby.”

It was a tender moment, one that made Coulson, Mack, and Fitzsimmons all smile softly at the two of them, but it was ruined when Price cleared her throat and questioned shortly, looking between May and Coulson, “So which one of you did Agent Johnson inherit her Inhuman genetic defect from?”

Everybody stared at her. It took a second for Daisy to figure out that she was referring to her being inhuman to be a genetic defect. Then, she didn’t know how to respond. Judging by the offended expressions on her friends’ faces, however, they were equally as shocked as her that Price would ask such an abrupt question. May was obviously enraged, because her hand tightened on Daisy’s shoulder to the point where it was slightly painful, and her jaw was clenching so much that her teeth had to ache. Her eyes were dark with anger. Coulson had a silently furious air to him as well, and he rarely showed his outrage outwardly, so he must have been seriously displeased.

Fitz reacted first. He snatched up his mug and the plate that was now cleared of crumpets to dump them in the sink, and then grabbed Daisy’s gauntlets. “Don’t know how you put up with it, Daisy. How bloody rude,” he muttered with a poisonous glance back at Price, before he grabbed Jemma’s hand - she looked physically ill at the woman’s choice of words - and the two of them absconded from the room.

Mack just shook his head wordlessly and followed after them, his knuckles pale and mug threatening to shatter in his hand from the sheer force of how tightly he was now gripping it.

“Did I say something wrong?” Price tilted her head, as if her previous question had just been her casually asking about the weather.

Coulson responded in a calm but dangerous voice, placing his cutlery back down on the table, “Rosalind, that’s not the sort of question you want to ask if you’re trying to not come across as a xenophobe. Being Inhuman is not a genetic defect, and it’s actually very prejudiced _and_ ableist to call it that.”

Price didn’t appear to understand. Either she was being purposefully obtuse and bigoted, or she actually couldn’t comprehend how damaging her labels for Inhumans were. “You keep insisting that Inhumans aren’t so different from us and that they technically are still human. If that’s true, then biologically speaking, they’re suffering from a genetic abnormality and disease.”

Daisy’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Wow, Price really wasn’t pulling her punches today. She decided to focus on shoveling pancakes into her mouth rather than on what the woman was saying, squashing down the tremors of infuriation that were rising within her chest and buzzing like thousands of incensed wasps. She wanted nothing more than to stand and walk out after Fitzsimmons and Mack, and knew that the three of them would be on her case later as to why she’d put up with Price using that sort of language around her and about her. But May’s hand was steady on her shoulder; it was a request for her to remain in her seat, to watch this play out. To see how Coulson was going to handle Price.

“Biologically speaking, Inhumans are their own race _and_ species,” Coulson explained patiently. “And therefore whatever genetic differences they have to humans are considered species-specific characteristics and traits, not defects. Despite those genetic differences, though, humans and Inhumans are still able to have children, and their children can have children, meaning they aren’t so different from us that we’re completely distinct and separate. They deserve rights just as much as any human would.” He sighed and drained the rest of his coffee. “Simmons has a dossier on this. I’ll ask her to lend it to you. I’d recommend you read it.”

“I’d also recommend you not call our daughter a disease to our faces,” May said, her voice lethally quiet. “Or in front of _anybody_ here on base, actually.”

Coulson nodded thoughtfully. “She’s right, that’s the quickest way you’re gonna make enemies here. Everybody adores Daisy. I would, uh, maybe stay out of the way of Fitzsimmons and Mack if I were you. Bobbi and Hunter as well, when they return, as Mack will probably have filled them in.”

“And Mr Campbell too, I presume. It is really safe for you to be harboring him in your base? Are you certain you can trust him? All he’s done since he joined you here is isolate himself.”

Daisy pushed her half-cleared plate of pancakes away from her, her appetite thoroughly diminished. So now Coulson and May had set that boundary, telling Price that she couldn’t verbally attack Daisy, she was going after Lincoln? She wasn’t going to let that stand. “The only reason you would think Lincoln’s been isolating himself is because you haven’t seen him, and that’s on purpose,” she snapped, protectiveness flaring. “He doesn’t want to be anywhere near you. Who could blame him, given that the ATCU have been hunting him like an animal for months? He’s not isolating himself, and a lot of people in SHIELD like him, actually. Lincoln has been helping Fitz, Simmons, and Bobbi in the lab, and he told me this morning that he’s being taken through the gym induction by Agent Piper, so he can join the team and STRIKE for training.”

Price seemed taken back by her vehemence, and even Coulson was staring at her in disbelief that she’d blown up. May, though, was looking down at her with a gratified smirk. Regardless of how good it felt to have her mentor be proud of her though, Daisy was beginning to feel uneasy, her powers reacting in turn, and making the vibrations ripple down into her still bruised wrists.

“I’m not hungry anymore.”

Coulson’s expression turned pleading as she stood. His eyes flickered to Price and then back to her. “You haven’t finished your breakfast, sweetheart.”

Running her fingers through her messy hair, shaking it down from her bun, Daisy sighed. She wasn’t going to let him use petnames against her now. “Sorry, Dad, after that migraine, I don’t quite feel like performing for the ATCU today,” she mumbled.

“Dais -”

“Phil,” May cut him off bitingly. All of them halted in place as Coulson and May exchanged an incredibly loaded look. Even Daisy felt uncomfortable witnessing it and she’d been around them and seen them do this many, many times before. “We talked about this last night.”

Coulson clenched his jaw. “Yes,” he finally sighed. “We did. I’ll check in with you later, Daisy, but please take it easy today.”

“Yes, Dad.” Before, it was something she might say teasingly to him, but now it was part of their charade - and weirdly enough, it didn’t feel at all like she was lying.

All the frustrations that came with having a slightly overzealous, stubborn father were landing on her shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! So happy that you've enjoyed the journey. Hoping to write and post more AOS fics in the future.

May followed her out of the kitchen and remained just behind her as Daisy headed back to her bunk to shower and change for the day. She could tell that May was hovering almost protectively, but she didn’t know how to feel about it. After months of not having her mentor/SO around, piecing her insane life back together without May there to guide and console her, it was strange to have her as a concerned shadow. Suddenly, all Daisy wanted to do was go and beat up a punching bag or spar. Her body was thrumming with energy. She knew that Jemma and Lincoln would kill her if she overworked herself, though.

“You know, getting angry at Coulson isn’t going to solve anything,” May said quietly, when they reached her bunk door.

Daisy scoffed, leaning against the frame so she could turn back and raise an eyebrow. “No, but it makes me feel better.”

To her surprise, May gave a small smile, with a knowing expression spreading across her face. “No, it doesn’t.” When the Inhuman frowned questioningly in response, her mentor crossed her arms and told her simply, “I know you, Daisy. You hate being angry with people, especially those you love.”

May was right, and Daisy hated how insightful she was. She really did hate being angry with people. She hated conflict. She hated how searing and painful the animosity would feel, burning in her chest like an uncontrollable fire that couldn’t be quenched and was going to swallow her whole; it was something that had haunted her ever since the first time she was struck by a drunk foster father and left with a broken jaw at the age of seven years old. She’d been so furious then, not understanding why somebody who was meant to look after her had chosen to hurt her - had enjoyed hurting her.

She’d been furious when Ward had betrayed them; when they’d come across those poor people her father had murdered; when her father had been forced to kill her mother after she tried to kill her. When it came to Coulson and May and the other team members, though, it was a different kind of anger she experienced. It was red rage stained black with bitter disappointment and grief and crushing fear.

She was angry at Coulson, yes, but she was more scared than actually angry, and that was what she was afraid of the most. Because Daisy felt like she was losing him. Her father figure, the first person who had actually believed in her and taken her under his wing and cared about her as a person, was growing close to a woman who didn’t think Daisy should even exist. It was stupid for her to worry about the idea of Coulson maybe agreeing with Price one day, but she’d been abandoned and left in metaphorical ditches her entire life, and she was terrified that there was a possibility that Coulson might change his mind about her and cut her out.

“You wouldn’t let Coulson throw me out, right?” she asked, before she could stop herself.

May visually startled. Considering that she was _May_ , it was alarming that Daisy’s question had thrown her so much. “You think he’s going to throw you out?”

She lowered her gaze. “Or hand me over to the ATCU. I don’t know.”

“Coulson would never do that, and you know he wouldn’t,” May answered, puzzled and agitated. “Why are you asking that?”

“We’re always arguing about the ATCU and Price and Inhuman rights. Lately, the arguments have been bordering on fights. Coulson put me in charge of the Caterpillar project and Secret Warriors recruitment, but those have been total busts as we only have Joey and now Lincoln.” Daisy couldn’t help but hunch her shoulders and clasp her hands together, fingers trembling. She despised how young and small she sounded. “If Coulson thinks I’m disrespectful and challenging and a burden to deal with and failing with my projects, then why wouldn’t he kick me to the curb?” That was what all the other authority figures in her childhood had done.

“Because he loves you,” May said, and her voice was so sad that it caused Daisy’s heart to clench. “You’re like a daughter to him. And a parent’s love for their child is unconditional.”

Daisy reckoned that that was probably true, but she’d never had proper parents throughout her entire life to learn that from. Cal and Jiaying were her biological parents, sure, and Cal had sort of, partially been redeemed in the end, but they’d only been in her life very shortly, definitely not long enough for Daisy to actually consider them parents. The only real parental figures she knew of were Coulson and May.

Remembering the comment May had made all those months ago, _I hope your mother is everything you hoped for_ , Daisy found herself murmuring, “You’re everything I could ask for in a mom.”

May didn’t even hesitate. “And you’re everything I could ask for in a daughter,” she replied warmly.

Hearing that... she couldn’t express all of her conflicting feelings in words. Instead, she bowed her head, and mumbled, “I missed tai chi this morning.”

The way May’s dark gaze flickered over her, reading her body language, made her feel young and exposed. Thankfully, her mentor decided to let the change of subject occur. She nodded, but reassured her gently, “You needed the rest.”

“I know, but now I’m thrown off my routine and it’s making me anxious.”

It wasn’t something she would admit to anybody but May. “That’s not what’s really making you anxious,” the woman said perceptively, watching as Daisy unlocked her bunk door and stepped through, over the dirty clothes littered on the floor. Daisy didn’t say anything, just shrugged once again as she picked out leggings and a baggy t-shirt. “I thought you were exaggerating when I heard that you call Director Price ‘the dragon lady’, but now I see that you aren’t.”

Daisy huffed. Instantly annoyed by May bringing the ATCU head up, she threw the fresh clothes down onto her bed. “I don’t understand how Coulson can tolerate spending time with her,” she muttered.

“You mean you can’t understand how Coulson can like her,” May corrected. Daisy shot her a look. “Be honest. It bothers you.”

There was no way that she was going to be able to lie, so Daisy sat down on her mattress. Grabbing one of her pillows, she hugged it to her stomach and peered up at May, swallowing. “Okay, yes. It bothers me.”

May nodded. Her expression was softened with understanding but not sympathy, but her voice was firm when she replied, “Good. It should. It bothers me as well. I should have been here when SHIELD started having encounters with the ATCU, when Coulson and Price began having dealings.”

“Why?”

“Maybe I would have been able to talk some sense into him. The way he’s been treating you is not fair. Coulson shouldn’t expect you to work with those people, and him getting personally involved with Price has had dire consequences when it comes to your relationship with him. Especially if you’ve been arguing, as you said before.” May entered the bunk and dropped down on the bed next to her. Daisy was a little confused when she laid a delicate hand on her arm. “I’m sorry I haven’t been here.”

“It’s alright.”

“No, it’s not. You don’t have to pretend like it is,” May insisted. “I know I hurt you when I left without saying goodbye. I know I hurt you even more when I didn’t call at all.”

Daisy averted her eyes and stared at the floor for a good half a minute. May stayed silent, as if she was patiently waiting for her to reply. The problem was that she was right. May had left without saying goodbye and she hadn’t called, and Daisy had been hurt by it all. She’d thought that maybe May hated her for the huge misunderstanding that had happened that resulted in them fighting and Daisy throwing her with her powers. Yes, they’d somewhat cleared the air afterward when they’d been fighting the Inhuman army on the aircraft carrier, but they hadn’t actually talked about it. She’d thought that her mentor and pseudo-mother had abandoned her.

Her heart ached in her chest as she whispered in a cracked voice, “I didn’t know if you were ever going to come back.”

Immediately, May reached out and drew her into a hug. It was warm and safe, despite being surprising, because May really wasn’t the kind of person who initiated physical affection. She definitely didn’t normally embrace people. “No matter the circumstances, I will always try my hardest to come home to you,” she said, so sincerely that it sounded like a promise.

“Bring Coulson home as well,” Daisy mumbled into her shoulder.

“He’s still here. He hasn’t gone anywhere.”

Daisy tightened the embrace, if only because she didn’t want May to see the tears brimming in her eyes. “It feels like there’s more and more of a rift between us, day after day. It’s not as bad as he was last year after he first became Director and he started carving the Kree city blueprints, when he pretty much totally pushed me away, but it’s getting there.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s left.”

“No, but there are limits to his patience, and he’s bound to get sick of me again soon.”

“ _Sick of you?_ ” May echoed. “Coulson never got _sick_ of you. You’re coming up with these outlandish claims, almost as if you think he secretly hates you.” Daisy tensed within the hug, beginning to pull away. May didn’t let her. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have used the word outlandish. If you really are worried about Coulson pushing you away, though, I want you to think back to how he treated you and acted around you last night, and at breakfast. He cares about you and nothing is going to change that.”

Withdrawing from the hug, Daisy tossed her messy waves of hair, which were hanging in front of her face, over her shoulder. She rubbed her eyes and said, “I’m gonna shower and then see Fitz about my gauntlets. Maybe go and join Lincoln in the gym - not to train or spar, just hang out.”

Eyeing her thoughtfully, May commented, “Your powers are making you antsy. You’re going to struggle with the inactivity until Simmons clears you, aren’t you?”

“It’s not Jemma’s assessment I’m worried about, it’s Lincoln,” she admitted. “He’s worried about permanent damage to my wrists and how my powers might affect my brain in the long run. If it were up to him, he probably would have Coulson bench me until my arms are completely healed and I’ve had more CT and MRI scans than the number of years I’ve been alive.”

“Maybe he’s got the right idea about your arms.”

“But that would mean I’m benched indefinitely,” Daisy rolled her eyes. May tilted her head in a bewildered fashion. “Oh, right, you weren’t here for that… after Jemma was swallowed by the space rock, Fitz kind of went a little crazy working on ways to get her back. Bobbi decided he needed a side project to prevent him from burning out so they started studying me. Not in, like, a creepy mad scientist sort of way. It was all consensual. But they were studying the effects of my powers on my body and discovered that there’s recoil when I channel the vibrations through my arms. It just means that my arms are going to constantly have microfractures.”

It was clear from May’s flat expression and the slight twitch of her cheek that she was trying to hold back her horror. Daisy had felt the same when she’d first found out about it. She’d had a couple of therapy sessions with Andrew where they’d talked about it being her new normal. It was a terrible situation, but one Daisy had come to accept once she’d understood that she was going to have to just live with it.

“The gauntlets Fitz made you help, though?” May asked steadily.

“They do,” she confirmed, with a faint reassuring smile. “Which is why I want them back ASAP.”

“I’ll leave you to shower and change then.” May turned away back into the corridor, but paused for a moment, turning back to add, “I’m going to speak to Simmons and ask if you can join me for tai chi this evening. It will help with your anxiety and restlessness.”

Daisy brightened. “Thank you.” Tai chi would help immensely with the unease that had been prickling beneath her skin ever since the ATCU had arrived on base. “- _Mom,_ ” she tacked on teasingly, after May had her back to her again.

May’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “We’re keeping that up until she’s gone,” she called back, as she strode away.

“Agreed. It was way too fun to annoy her like that. She was so sour.”

It didn’t take long for Daisy to shower and change into casual, comfortable clothes that were suitable for just loitering around the Playground. On her way out, she grabbed her ICER and holster and her clip-on official badge, since she wasn’t really allowed to wander around base without it; she was surprised that Coulson or May hadn’t needled her about it over breakfast. It appeared that Coulson had returned to the Director’s office with Price, probably to do more research and work, and May and Mack were looking over a damaged quinjet’s controls according to Agent Prince, so she went to visit Fitzsimmons in the lab.

Jemma was quick to give her a little check-up, flitting about and just murmuring about how she needed to be sure Daisy was okay. Her gauntlets weren’t ready yet; Fitz wanted to replace the resonant processor units and the absorption plates. Coulson had somehow managed to procure some vibranium to alloy with brass and steel, that would be much better at absorbing the recoil vibrations than the current sorbothane-weave glove lining.

“Go, go,” Jemma shoo-ed her out of the lab, when Daisy decided to start experimenting with directing vibrations through the vibranium on Fitz’s desk and accidentally rattled every beaker and test tube. “You can do your tai chi with May tonight but I want to see you after to check you over again, and no using your powers before that!”

“Fine,” she groaned.

“I’m serious, Daisy! Don’t make me tell on you to your parents!”

“You know they’re not _actually_ my parents, right?” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“I’ll get your father to ground you,” Jemma threatened.

“Coulson wouldn’t ground me.”

“Somebody is forgetting the SHIELD nanny bracelet she was shackled with during the BUS days,” Fitz snorted.

“Coulson wouldn’t make me wear that again,” she scowled. But then Daisy paused. “Would he?”

Pondering over whether or not he actually would, Daisy headed out towards the main gym, where she knew Lincoln was going to be with Piper. Agent Davis joined her in her stroll, as he was going to meet up with STRIKE for firearms training; he wasn’t an agent she knew very well honestly. They’d only worked together in the field once or twice, but he was polite and nice, with a good sense of humor. He’d obviously heard about her migraine, because he asked how her head was feeling as they walked side by side down the corridors, and he seemed to genuinely care about her recovery.

Lincoln and Piper stepped out into the hallway, chatting amicably, when they were about fifteen feet away from the gym’s entrance.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Lincoln greeted her.

“I live here?” Daisy smirked.

He shot her a relatively stern look, although he was smiling. “You know I mean near the gym, when Simmons and I have explicitly told you to take it easy.”

She laughed and slung her arm over his shoulder. “Relax, sparky, I just came to find you. Did Piper teach you everything there is to know about the gym equipment and the training schedule?”

“Well, now we’ve got two Inhumans living on base, you’ll finally be able to make proper use of that slot you’ve had booked for _forever_ for Secret Warriors training, Agent Johnson,” Piper replied brightly.

“You know it’s Daisy, Piper.” Daisy leaned in and whispered to Lincoln, “STRIKE have been trying to swap slots with me since we first made the schedule. For whatever reason, everybody around here is gunning for the 3-4pm timeslot.” Raising her voice back to normal volume, she asked, “Hey, have you shown Lincoln the armory yet? Seeing as STRIKE have firearms practice now, I thought maybe we could have Lincoln pick out his ICER while Davis kits up.”

Seeing Lincoln’s confusion, Piper explained, “When Director Coulson got rid of the levels system, he made it a rule that everybody who lives here is issued with an ICER. If you’re a candidate for Daisy’s Secret Warriors program, then you’ll need one too.”

“Would Coulson really be okay with me running around the Playground with a gun?” Lincoln asked, his brow furrowed.

“A stun gun,” Davis corrected. “And with those ATCU thugs wandering the base with semi-automatics, being all twitchy and trigger-happy around Inhumans? I think the Director would agree that you’re entitled to protection.” A second later, he grimaced at his own choice of words. Daisy and Piper both grinned widely in amusement, and even Lincoln chuckled. “Oh shut up, you’re all immature jerks. Protection as in a defensive weapon, not… the other kind.”

Daisy grabbed Lincoln’s hand and tugged him down the corridor towards the armory before he could protest. He just rolled his eyes and allowed her to yank him along, a huge smile on his face that was nice to see, given that he hadn’t had much to be happy about lately. Davis and Piper continued to trade banter behind them, Piper mostly teasing Davis, who apparently had mixed up the safety with the magazine release on the new ICER semi-automatics last time he’d partaken in firearms training. It was a mistake Daisy had always made when she first joined Coulson’s team on the BUS, so she was quick to reassure him that it wasn’t as stupid as Piper was making it out to be.

While they were walking, Daisy offered Lincoln her ICER so he could examine it and test the weight of it in his hand. Given that her magazine only had 3 rounds in it rather than the usual 5, it was lighter than normal, and she gave him the quick run-down on how the gun fired. Lincoln seemed intrigued from a medical perspective by the dendrotoxin they used, and made a comment about asking Fitzsimmons to show him the formula later.

As they were turning the corner down the corridor that led to the armory, however, their cheerfulness swiftly evaporated. For some random, unknown reason, two ATCU agents were standing in front of the armory, as if they were guarding the room in order to prevent SHIELD agents from entering. Upon catching sight of Daisy and Lincoln - Lincoln still holding the ICER in his hands - they immediately appeared to panic, raising their semi-automatics towards them.

Daisy’s protective instincts reared their head; she reacted in less than a second, thrusting her hand out and allowing the vibrations to pour out of her, shaking their weapons to pieces within their grips. She understood instantly why Lincoln and Jemma hadn’t wanted her to use her powers. Dizziness swept over her as red-hot waves of overwhelming pain exploded in her brain and arms and rippled through her entire body. Daisy’s legs gave out. She would have crashed to the floor if Lincoln hadn’t lunged to catch her.

“What the hell, man?” Piper shouted, kicking the quaked gun parts on the floor away from them, so they couldn’t reassemble their weapons. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

“He had a gun!” one of the men spluttered.

“Yeah, so does everybody else on this base, and yet I don’t see you trying to shoot them!”

Daisy groaned into Lincoln’s chest, trying to bury her face into his shirt as he wrapped his arms around her torso to keep her upright against him. That terrible, awful pounding in her head was back, although not as intense as before. Fortunately, she wasn’t experiencing the same vibrational echoes threatening to drown her, just a faint ringing in her ears. She wasn’t completely aware of what was happening around her now, but could hear Piper continuing to shout and go off on the two ATCU agents, Lincoln shushing her gently in an attempt at comfort and Davis - Davis had run off, probably to go and find help in the form of another team member.

“Your nervous system is going haywire,” Lincoln murmured softly into her ear.

“My head hurts again,” she complained. “And my arms.”

The light was straining her eyes so she wanted to keep her face pressed into Lincoln’s shoulder, but when Daisy heard approaching footsteps, she risked a hasty glance upwards. She was briefly surprised to see Bobbi, Hunter, and Mack striding towards them, their expressions grim but determined.

“What’s going on here?” Bobbi demanded, stepping up by Piper’s side with her arms crossed. Daisy couldn’t see very well, but she was pretty sure that Hunter was backing her up.

The two ATCU agents started stammering excuses, realizing now that they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned. They might as well just have been annoying gnats buzzing in Daisy’s periphery.

“She needs to go to medical,” she heard Lincoln telling Mack gravely. “Her electrical signals indicate she’s in a lot of pain. Tell Simmons that she used her powers and said that her head and arms are hurting again.”

“Got it. I’m gonna pick you up, Tremors, so don’t you dare throw up on me, okay?” Mack lifted Daisy into his huge arms effortlessly. While the abrupt movement did make her head spin some more, her stomach didn’t revolt as Mack feared.

Meanwhile, Hunter was now angrily shoving one of the ATCU agents back, poking him in the chest. Whatever the man had said had obviously seriously irritated him, because Hunter spat, “Oh come off it, you prick! Lincoln’s been actively avoiding confrontation with you lot ever since he got here, and Daisy wouldn’t hurt a bloody fly unless she was threatened. You’re just xenophobic arseholes. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay the hell away from my mates.” He cracked his knuckles.

“And he’s not the real person you need to worry about,” Bobbi added, smirking. “Lincoln may be new here, but all of us on the team are prepared to throw down for him, and Daisy? Well… you won’t just be taking on the entire base, you’ll also have her parents to contend with.”

“Parents?” the ATCU agent scoffed.

“ _WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?_ ” a voice roared from down the corridor, making all of them jump.

Daisy blinked blearily, turning her head from where it was resting on Mack’s chest to search for Coulson. Her partner shifted her carefully as he cradled her so that she could catch sight of Coulson and May storming towards them, both looking utterly enraged, with Davis tailing them, and Price at a further distance.

“Daisy?” Coulson asked, his fury dissolving into stricken concern. He brushed her hair away from her face, his hand resting cautiously on her arm. “Oh, sweetheart… you don’t look so good.”

“I think she’s experiencing migraine auras,” Lincoln informed him. “She needs to go to medical as soon as possible. To get her head and her arms looked at - she used her powers to vibrate their guns apart when they aimed us.”

May remained silent, but had a deadly expression on her face as Coulson backed off to give her space to approach Daisy. She blinked up at her mentor, scrunching her eyes up when the light caused the throbbing in her head to get worse. Seeing her pain, May sighed and tenderly brushed her thumb across Daisy’s forehead.

“What happened here?” Price was asking her men sharply. “Why was my work with the Director interrupted by a SHIELD agent coming to tell us that two of my people are threatening SHIELD-protected Inhumans?”

“He had a gun, ma’am.” One of them pointed accusingly at Lincoln.

“You had AR-15s!” Piper countered, enraged.

Coulson turned to Lincoln. “An ICER?” he asked. Lincoln nodded. “All SHIELD agents and associates are free to carry ICERs around the Playground,” he explained to Price. “Mr Campbell is therefore allowed to. This was explained in the briefing I gave to your men when they first arrived on base. I also remember quite specifically informing them that intimidating and threatening behavior towards any of my agents, human or Inhuman, wouldn’t be tolerated.” His voice had grown progressively more and more incensed as he spoke. It was in a thunderous tone that he ended with, “And now your men just pointed semi-automatics at my daughter and her friend. She was forced to use her powers, despite being ill, to protect them, putting her health at even greater risk.”

Rosalind raised her hands defensively. “Phil, you have to believe me, I never meant to place your daughter’s life in jeopardy.”

“You’ve only cared about her safety since discovering her relationship to me. I’m not blind, Rosalind, nor am I as callow as you would like to believe.” Coulson glanced back over at Mack, May, and Daisy, his gaze flitting over them all before settling on the Inhuman and softening. “Take her to the medbay, make sure Simmons looks her over. Lincoln, you can go too - Piper and Davis will give me their accounts of what happened, and you can come to my office later for your own debrief. Getting Daisy treated is the priority. Bobbi, Hunter, can you take these two men down to Vault D please?”

At that point, Daisy closed her eyes and must have passed out from a combination of exhaustion and lightheadedness, because when she opened her eyes again, she was lying in her bunk with an itchy IV in her elbow. The line poked out just above her gauntlet, which had been worked onto her bruised and possibly spider-fractured wrists. The drugs Jemma and Lincoln had her on were great ones, because Daisy was barely in any pain at all; her head, despite being foggy and feeling like it was stuffed full of cotton, was the clearest it had felt since before her first migraine.

Coulson was sitting in a chair beside her bed quietly, reading over a field report. He looked weary, and had no doubt been dealing with the mess caused by Price’s ATCU agents being trigger-happy idiots. Daisy turned her head and stared at him for a moment, her eyes darting over the frownlines that seemed to have permanently marred her pseudo-father’s face ever since the war with the Inhumans - or really, ever since he took over as Director of SHIELD.

After a minute or so, Coulson appeared to sense her gaze on him, because he raised his head. He didn’t smile at all. “Hey,” he said simply. “How are you feeling?”

Rubbing her eyes with her IV-free hand, she didn’t answer the question (because it was either going to be ‘okay’ or ‘fine’ which she knew Coulson hated because they were so generic) and instead mumbled, “How long was I out for?”

“Only an hour.” Closing the file, Coulson regarded her tiredly. “I’m serious, how do you feel?”

“Head’s a little stuffy, but I’m not in any pain,” Daisy reassured him.

“That’s good to hear. Simmons gave you a dose of dexamethasone, which she said would help prevent migraine reoccurrence.”

Pushing herself up, Daisy leaned back against the headboard, readjusting her arm when it tugged uncomfortably at her IV. “Whatever it was, it worked. I’ve barely got a headache right now.” She glanced over towards the closed door. “How did, er…” She wanted to ask what had happened with Price and the ATCU, but wasn’t sure if Coulson would be angry or not.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to finish her question. Coulson sighed and informed her, “Rosalind’s left. She took both of her men with her after assuring me they would be placed on desk work indefinitely. The incident today decimated the boundary line that was drawn saying that none of her agents would hurt any of mine. There’ll never be a physical ATCU presence within the Playground again.”

“Really?” she blinked in shock.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice heavy with regret. “For everything. For all the stress I’ve put you through, the pressure I’ve been placing on you to get the Caterpillars program working properly… for making you work with the ATCU. I was an idiot. A blind idiot. I didn’t see the pain you were in and I was just adding more to it. You shouldn’t forgive me.”

She looked back at him carefully. “Maybe I shouldn’t yet, but that was a pretty good apology,” she offered. “The next step is apologizing to Lincoln and the rest of the team. Because you know this hasn’t just been affecting me.”

“I know. I’m planning to.”

“Tell me how we’re still going to be working with the ATCU, because I imagine we’re still going to be, in some capacity.

“We’ll still be collaborating with them to take down Malick and HYDRA… but all of our meetings in the future will be over encrypted video conference or at secure off-base locations.” He hesitated and then added, “The ATCU have also conceded to stop pursuing Inhumans until their internal issues have been dealt with. Rosalind acknowledged that your Welcome Wagon protocol and Caterpillars’ program are currently far superior to the ATCU’s methods of Inhuman intake and evaluation.”

“And what did you have to trade to get them to agree to all of this?” Daisy asked warily. So far, all of SHIELD’s dealings with the ATCU had resulted in them having to trade information about Inhumans or give away leads during investigations.

“Nothing. Well… I’m pretty sure Rosalind only agreed to nothing because May was glaring at her so intensely she probably thought she was planning her murder.”

“My ears are burning.”

Daisy turned towards the voice, breaking out into a smile when she saw that May had somehow managed to crack the door open and peer in without them noticing her presence. “Did you go full overprotective mama lioness, planning Price’s murder?” she laughed.

“I plead the fifth,” was May’s short response with a smirk. She crossed the room in a couple of rapid strides to perch on the edge of Daisy’s bed, brushing a few stray locks of hair behind the Inhuman’s ear in a tender gesture. “And there was a reason for my overprotectiveness. My cub was in danger.”

“I’m your cub now?”

“You are in the eyes of Price.” May leaned in and whispered, “She’s backed off from Coulson since the prank started. I think this is going to work in our favor.”

“And she’s left the base,” Daisy noted, pleased. “Win, win.”

“I think Coulson would have had a coup on his hands if he didn’t tell the ATCU to leave. Hunter was discussing mutiny with Fitzsimmons and Mack, the last time I saw them.”

“Really?” She shouldn’t have been surprised - her friends were insanely loyal. “Would a revolt have worked?”

“If they’d all threatened to resign, then probably,” Coulson grumbled. “Mack had already made the threat before the incident today. Practically told me he would snatch you and run.”

Daisy didn’t admit that she’d actually been considering the same thing: grabbing Lincoln, picking up Joey, and slipping off the grid. The other team members would have helped, she was sure. “He’s a great partner. Piper and Davis are cool as well - you should assign them to our missions more often. They really stood up for Lincoln and me back there.”

“I’ll definitely consider it,” Coulson nods. He brushes himself down and stands, stretching his stiff muscles. “Simmons wanted me to get her once you woke up.”

May glanced over her shoulder at him. “Get her to bring Daisy some of those shortbread biscuits she was baking.”

“Jemma made shortbread?” Daisy was delighted. The last time she’d had Jemma’s shortbread was shortly before her Terrigenesis. “I should get migraines more often.”

May quirked an eyebrow. Coulson’s expression was unimpressed.

“Okay, maybe not,” Daisy corrected herself. “It was pretty awful.” She smiled sweetly. “Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re going to call May and I ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ whenever you desperately want something from us now, aren’t you?” Coulson sighed.

“Will it work?”

He shook his head and muttered, “I’ll ask Simmons to bring the shortbread with her,” on his way out of the room.

As soon as he was gone, Daisy turned to her mentor and asked nervously, “You don’t mind, do you?”

May switched to sitting in the chair Coulson just vacated. “I should be asking you that question.”

Daisy thought for a moment. Did she mind? She recalled how she had initially felt when she’d first called them Mom and Dad, how it had felt a little strange at first but also so _right_. She could unequivocally say that over the past two years of her life, since she had joined the team, somewhere along the way Coulson and May had slipped into parental roles for her, and she had graciously accepted that. In her mind, she’d acknowledged them as her pseudo-mother and -father long before ever calling them Mom and Dad aloud.

“As long as there’s no strict bedtimes or parental controls on tech or godfobbiden grounding…” Daisy grinned. “I think I could learn to live with you and Coulson as my parents. It would be an incredible hardship, but I could pull through.”

May snorted a laugh. “Careful, or I’ll make you do pushups until your arms are about to fall off.”

“No way, Coulson wouldn’t let you punish me like that!”

“Phil would slap you with the internet nanny bracelet.”

“On second thought, the pushups sound great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
